Pages

Around Lonavla

11:47 AM

Despite staying in the most awesome and quiet place in the area, we did venture out of the hotel and out Machan on Saturday to explore the area. Lonavla is apparently known for its caves, but we didn't go, we preferred stay away from big crowds on that getaway, it is not like Lonavla is so far from Mumbai that we will never go back again, so we kept it simple. That said, I took hundreds of pictures in that weekend alone, not all save-worthy, and decided to share a few here.

This is one of the first pictures I took out of the car. On the way to the Machan, we stopped for a little while to walk in the field off the bumpy road that lead there and I spotted a few of these fresh water crabs. Turns out they are all over the area, and dig holes in the ground. The guide at our resort told us they can actually snip your fingers, but they are shy in nature and are more likely to freeze into place if a person comes too close. Ishita didn't find my going near that one to take a picture cool. We found out that a few years in Mumbai has turned her into a scaredy cat, freaked out by bugs, nature, and dirt and wind...sigh!

On Saturday we drove down the hill back to Lonavla and stopped at what is called Tiger Leap Point, and took a few pictures there. The wind was very strong on that cliff, and at time we felt like it could blow us away. DH and I found it awesome, laughed and enjoyed the slightly chilly air...Ishita not so much. As a true nearly 5 years old, and a city girl at that, she complained the wind was too strong and messing her hair. The funny part is I chopped her hair during the Summer while myself sporting long curls, she hated the wind messing her pageboy do, while I laughed at the wind turning me into "cousin It" from the Adams Familly. (No picture of that just yet I think DH took one from his phone thought).

After our windy experience, we asked the parking attendant if there was any lake around we could visit, and he pointed us toward Pavana lake telling us to not waste much time on Bushi Dam down the hill (another tourist hot spot) as it was still dry, being the start of the monsoon and therefore not as exiting looking. One of these places we will have to check on a next trip. Finding Pavana lake proved to be a bit though, mostly because one of the person we asked to for direction inside Lonavla pointed us in the wrong direction and forced us to go through another round of traffic jam. Once out of the city, the road above is what took us there, a twisty little country side road that went on and on forever making us wonder if we even were on the right road, until I spotted a lot of typical city cars and a few luxury ones coming from the opposite direction. I pointed out to DH that whatever was down the road was attracting Mumbaikars to the spot and making them leave in time to go get some lunch somewhere else ( it was almost 1pm).

When we finally reached a point on the road wheee we could see the lake, we were surprised by its size. Like all lakes in the area it is an artificial lake that has been created by a dam. Most belonging to Tata by the way. It took us a little while longer to see a place we could stop and reach said lake. The lake being a dam lake, there aren't many ways to access that is public, the only spot we saw had a parking lot outside a restaurant and boating complex. From the restaurant, you can walk down to the shore.

There were a few boats that take you on a very short ride in what is probably the only public access part of the lake at a distance from the dam. Your truly typical tourist activity once you reach that far. All three of us rode for a total of 5 minutes on a boat and paid a combined total of 150 rupees. Fun for the kids, and those who have never been on a boat, but not the most scenic and exiting ride ever. We spotted a couple of geese by the shore and then headed to the restaurant, which serves the typical multicuisine fare you find in most road side family restaurants in India before heading back the hotel and taking more snaps of the road.

Lonavla is also famous for its chikki and fudge, which are both sweet delicacies. But we didn't buy any this time. Not that we miss it, both DH and I aren't really what you would call sweet teeth to begin with.

That point had a lot of stunning peaks and hills to watch, I read in one of our books that it is named tiger leap because one cliff looks like a leaping tiger but I couldn't see which one, maybe the one we were actually standing on?

Something tells me you were fishing around for pictures to use without asking for permission and violating the copyrights. So I do not feel sorry for disappointing you at all. Want good pictures you can use? Go to a royalty free stock photo database and pay for them.

Lauren, these crabs were really cute :-)And yes it seems that this resort near Mumbai was just after an easy picture grab and go fruatrated not being able to lift them with a right click, or maybe the fat that they have a watermark, possibly both. They are on my radar in any case. I regularly check where my photos appear.

Exactly :-) or pay a photographer to go take some. It irks me when people feel the need to steal pictures for their own websites. I spend 4-5 hours daily working on that blog, between promoting, writing, interacting with people, working on craft projects, trying new recipe, and Yep taking picutres myself and editing them. I don't feel like giving any freebie to people like him who seem to have a commercial site. If you have a website, you work on it...period, nobody said making money on the net was easy.

“Cynthia Haller is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.in.”